@KnightofPhoenix,
A very well thought out defense of Loghain. I do view Loghain through the lens of human duality and am attracted to him as a character.
While his state of paranoia can certainly be debated, I cannot give him a pass on the Blight. He fails to comprehend the full scale of it and react to the impending danger. During the Landsmeet when he is pleading with the nobles to rally to him, he still insists Orlais is a greater threat than the Darkspawn. Ignorance of this is no defense for him. He is a general, and his foray into politics, coupled with his insurmountable past, paralyzed him to triage the threats to the nation he loves.
His "paranoia" (let’s call it a temporary condition) blinds him. He explicitly states that he doubts this is a real Blight. Every other noble and leader you encounter seems to grasp the reality of the Blight however. I remember watching the cut scene at the Landsmeet and shouting at the screen "gods man, let it go. You are a general! You are getting ready to get buried by a threat staring you right in the face and yet you insist upon remaining blind and making war on your own people."
I reflected that while Orlais MAY indeed be a threat, the Blight was most DEFINITELY a threat; and it was on his doorstep. But Loghain's paranoia (perhaps it wasn’t to the point of a clinical diagnosis :-)) paralyzed his judgment and crippled his situational understanding of current events. Had he not stated that "this was not a real Blight" I could be better swayed. Knowing what we know of Cailan, his correspondence with Celene, his fatherly attachment to Anora, etc, he probably was justified through reason (at least in his own mind) in his (re)actions.
The most damning thing to me however, is that he quits the field of battle and abandons innocent soldiers to their deaths at the hands of Darkspawn. As a combat veteran, this is something I am simply incapable of overlooking. It is simply not done, and Loghain is a field general of renown. This I felt to be his biggest crime; a crime that he had to answer for. Had he only assassinated Cailan (the biggest threat in Loghain's mind and certainly the Crows could have gotten to him) and allied with the Wardens, I might have agreed with pro-Loghain players all the way.
His view is obviously shaped by the Orlesian occupation of Ferelden, and perhaps rightly so; but while he focuses on the trauma of his youth, he wishes away the most urgent danger staring him right in the face, forgets he is a general first, and makes a critical mistake.
Having said all this, I still believe him an honorable man at his core; very flawed, but honorable. Leaving him at the Gate at Denerim was a satisfactory sentence in the view of my Warden. No instantly heroic death blow and no instant execution; but instead a long, slow, grinding task of justice that ultimately would end in his redemption in the Deep Roads.
Just my view and thanks for the discussion.
Modifié par Barbarossa2010, 23 février 2010 - 11:59 .
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But when I do kill him, I feel horrible. I usually just make Alistair do it!
